Rapid high-pressure liquid chromatographic analysis of verapamil in blood and plasma

A high-pressure liquid chromatographic assay procedure has been developed for verapamil in blood or plasma. A paired-ion solvent system with a reversed-phase column is employed. The procedure is specific for verapamil and the retention times of the major metabolites are identified. This procedure is sensitive to a lower blood concentration of 1 ng/ml and standard curves were found to be linear up to the highest concentration tested, 500 ng/ml. Several drugs were tested for interference with the assay, but none were found to cause any problems. The procedure is simple, rapid and permits the analysis of up to 25 samples per day.